James Frey essay - 580 Words | Majortests

My Friend Leonard by by James Frey: Summary and reviews

That's why, in thepublic imagination, the confession "I did not tell the truth"signifies failure when James Frey says it, and means nothing at all if JohnUpdike says it.

Perhaps the most unconventional and literally breathtaking father-son story you'll ever read, pulls you immediately and deeply into a relationship as unusual as it is inspiring.

The father figure is Leonard, the high-living, recovering coke addict "West Coast Director of a large Italian-American finance firm" (read: mobster) who helped to keep James Frey clean in . The son is, of course, James, damaged perhaps beyond repair by years of crack and alcohol addiction-and by more than a few cruel tricks of fate.

James embarks on his post-rehab existence in Chicago emotionally devastated, broke, and afraid to get close to other people. But then Leonard comes back into his life, and everything changes. Leonard offers his "son" lucrativeif illegal and slightly dangerousemployment. He teaches James to enjoy life, sober, for the first time. He instructs him in the art of "living boldly," pushes him to pursue his passion for writing, and provides a watchful and supportive veil of protection under which James can get his life together. Both Leonard's and James's careers flourish but then Leonard vanishes. When the reasons behind his mysterious absence are revealed, the book opens up in unexpected emotional ways.

showcases a brilliant and energetic young writer rising to important new challengesdisplaying surprising warmth, humor, and maturitywithout losing his intensity. This book proves that one of the most provocative literary voices of his generation is also one of the most emphatically human.

A Million Little Pieces is the dregs of a degraded genre, the rehab memoir. Rehab stories provide a way for pampered trust-fund brats like Frey to claim victim status. These swine already have money, security and position and now want to corner the market in suffering and scars, the consolation prizes of the truly lost. It’s a fitting literary metonymy for the Bush era: the rich have decided to steal it all, even the tears of the losers.

But if you hit Frey, you would be in serious trouble. Not just because Frey’s dad is a filthy-rich international corporate lawyer, but because, as he never tires of informing the reader, Mister James Frey is one tough bastard. He gets in real fights, albeit only with moribund addicts twice his age.